


October prompts: Rescue

by theonetruenorth



Series: October writing prompts 2020 [5]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Fix-It, Hospitalization, M/M, October prompts 2020, Post-Destroy Ending, Shepard lives, Whumptober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26864287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonetruenorth/pseuds/theonetruenorth
Summary: He thought he was prepared. He had not spent years as a soldier without accepting the potential risks of losing the people he served with. His allies. His friends. His… well.Kaidan wasn’t sure what exactly John was to him, other that he loved the man more than life itself.
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard
Series: October writing prompts 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948783
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	October prompts: Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta-read. Also, my first ever entry in ME fandom.  
> Post-Destroy ending. Let's fix the plot by having Normandy back on Earth after the game ends, not on some random planet on ass-end of the galaxy. Nobody has time for that.

Kaidan would never forget the moment he saw the broken-down N7 armor peeking from underneath the rubble of the Citadel.

He thought he was prepared. He had not spent years as a soldier without accepting the potential risks of losing the people he served with. His allies. His friends. His… well.

Kaidan wasn’t sure _what_ exactly John was to him, other that he loved the man more than life itself. He had been prepared to die by his side but instead, John had left him behind. For him it was the worst possible outcome of this war; He would have preferred for both of them to go out in battle rather than linger behind. They had all lost so much, so many people dear to them and grief nestled deep in his chest now, resonating in him like an echo. He didn’t want to be alone again, didn’t want to feel this pain day after day.

But John wanted him to live, had kissed him on the ramp of Normandy and saved him. It was now Kaidan’s duty to actually _stay_ alive, to honor John’s wish. No matter how much it hurt. 

That didn’t mean he didn’t feel his heart breaking all over again at the sight of the cracked armor and the body it was supposed to protect. He could do it. He _had_ to do it. He would bring John home and make sure he got the burial he deserved. It was the last thing he could do for the man who held his heart.

The men who found him pulled him out of the rubble and Kaidan took a minute to brace himself against the pain, against seeing John so still and cold. Because of that moment of hesitation, it took him completely by surprise to hear the rescuers calling out for the medical team.

John was still alive.

Kaidan didn’t believe in miracles. He didn’t know if he even believed, in general. Faith was never something that he thought about. But as he fell to his knees next to John’s battered and injured body and saw the faint rise and fall of his chest, Kaidan thought that there really was some higher power that protected John even in their darkest hour.

It took weeks for him to heal.

Weeks of sitting next to John’s bedside, of holding his hand, of talking to him. He wasn’t awake, but he was alive and that was more than enough. The tiny hospital room in London became a temporary home to him and no one from the staff dared to say anything about it. John Shepard was the hero who had saved them from the Reapers. Who were they to deny him anything, least of all the comfort of his friends and chosen family taking care of him. Three weeks after John was found some of the admiralty in the Alliance started to make noises about Kaidan and the Normandy crew returning to duty and supporting the post-war efforts, but they all set up a camp in London and stayed close, waiting for their commander to wake up.

Little by little, John’s room started to change. A soft, warm blanket was now tucked around John’s body, way more comfortable than hospital-issued sheets. Somehow, despite the devastation of the city, someone had found fresh flowers that sat on the small table and turned the normally stale air into something fragrant and sweet. Small trinkets here and there, from people who wanted to show they still cared. And one day when Kaidan fell asleep in the armchair next to John’s bed, he had woken up underneath a knitted afghan that someone covered him with.

It warmed Kaidan’s soul, knowing just how much John was loved.

The nurses gossiped among themselves, about how Kaidan rarely left John’s side. He could hear the hushed tones and whispers behind his back, but thankfully, none of them were malicious. They pitied him, he knew. John’s life was saved by the cybernetic implants he got from Cerberus, allowing him to survive the damage that would have killed any other person. But he still wasn’t waking up and they all thought the chances of that ever happening were close to zero now.

Kaidan held onto hope. John had proved others wrong time and time again. He had beaten worse odds.

Four months after the battle Kaidan was holding onto John’s hand, rubbing against his knuckles gently as he told him how Javik’s off-hand comments about other races had caused an interracial brouhaha, the planetary diplomats not quite knowing what to make of him. He was in the middle of describing just how high a Volus’ ambassador voice could get when he was angered when he felt the hand in his grasp twitch a little. 

Kaidan thought nothing of it, really. It wasn’t uncommon for John to react in his sleep - a twitch here or there, slight movement of his closed eyes, even a sigh or two. All good signs of brain activity, the doctors had told him, though Kaidan could hear doubt in their voices. 

What happened next happened quietly, without fanfare. John’s eyes slowly blinked open and after a second or two his gaze shifted a little sideways until he could see Kaidan. They both held still for a moment. Kaidan felt frozen in place, unable to tear his eyes away, afraid that it would all turn out to be a dream if he blinked. He dreamed about it often enough, after all.

John didn’t say anything, his throat probably too dry to actually form words, but the corner of his mouth twitched in a smile and it was enough.

“Hello, love,” Kaidan said, his voice nothing but a whisper as emotion threatened to choke him. “You kept me waiting.”


End file.
